British curriculum international schools popular in UAE and Asia

As the exodus of British professionals to overseas locations grows, it’s creating a higher demand for international schools offering a British curriculum.

A number of famous names in British education have already opened international schools in Malaysia, China, Singapore and Dubai, attracting not just the children of expats but those from wealthy local families as well. The high-profile schools are now contributing around £1 billion annually to the UK economy, and are being seen as stepping stones to a UK university place.

Spokesperson Joanna Ackerley, representing the Marlborough College Malaysia spin-off of the famous British public school, says that interest in its programmes has soared. Selective admissions, she adds, should see the register reach its maximum capacity of 1350 pupils by 2018.

Wellington College is expanding into China, with its first school expected to open in 2014, and Manchester Business School is developing campuses in Singapore, Dubai and China. The University of Nottingham also has China, Singapore and Dubai in its sights.

Since 2003, the number of British international schools abroad has increased to 6,300 from 2,600, giving expats a far wider choice of education for their children. The government’s upcoming Great Britain marketing campaign is expected to increase the demand for a British education across a wide spectrum of expat destinations.

At the present time, the UAE has the greatest number of international schools at 370, spread across the emirates. Expat parents in the region are well aware that easing their kids back into the British system when their contracts end will be far more straightforward if a British education has been followed throughout.

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Although there are a large number of British curriculum school in Dubai it's not easy to get into one. The waiting lists are long to start with, sometimes artificially long. People move away and don't remove their name from lists, and fearing the long lists parents put their children's names down on several lists.
It's also an expensive business - you have to pay a registration fee of around 100GBP per child per school, just to put a name on a list, regardless of whether your child is successful in getting a place. It can be a stressful and worrying experience.
Our advice is to start your search as early as you can. And accept that you might have to move schools again if you don't get your chosen one.